As first reported several decades ago, pigeons (Columba livia) sometimes choose options that provide less food over options that provide more food. This behavior has been variously referred to as suboptimal, maladaptive, or paradoxical because it lowers overall food intake. A great deal of research has been directed at understanding the conditions under which animals and people make suboptimal choices and the mechanisms that drive this behavior. Here, we review the literature on suboptimal choice and the variables that play a role in this phenomenon. Suboptimal choice is most likely to occur when the outcomes following a choice are uncertain, when the outcomes are delayed after the choice, and when the outcomes are signaled only on the option that provides food less often. We propose a mathematical formalization of the signal for good news (SiGN) model which assumes that a signal for a reduction in delay to food reinforces choice. We generate predictions from the model about the effect of parameters that characterize suboptimal choice and we show that, even in the absence of free parameters, the SiGN model provides a very good fit to the choice proportions of birds from a large set of conditions across studies from numerous researchers. R code for SiGN predictions and the data set are available on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/39qtj). We discuss limitations of the model, propose directions for future research, and discuss the general applicability of this research to understanding how rewards and signals for reward may combine to reinforce behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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次优选择：好消息信号 (SiGN) 模型的审查和量化。


正如几十年前首次报道的那样，鸽子（Columba livia）有时会选择提供较少食物的选项，而不是提供更多食物的选项。这种行为被不同地称为次优、适应不良或矛盾，因为它降低了总体食物摄入量。大量研究旨在了解动物和人类做出次优选择的条件以及驱动这种行为的机制。在这里，我们回顾了有关次优选择的文献以及在这种现象中发挥作用的变量。当选择后的结果不确定、选择后结果延迟以及仅在提供食物频率较低的选项上显示结果时，最有可能发生次优选择。我们提出了好消息信号（SiGN）模型的数学形式化，该模型假设减少食物延误的信号会强化选择。我们从模型中生成了关于表征次优选择的参数影响的预测，并且我们表明，即使在没有自由参数的情况下，SiGN 模型也可以很好地拟合来自研究中大量条件的鸟类的选择比例来自众多研究人员。 SiGN 预测的 R 代码和数据集可在开放科学框架 (https://osf.io/39qtj) 上找到。我们讨论了模型的局限性，提出了未来研究的方向，并讨论了这项研究的一般适用性，以理解奖励和奖励信号如何结合起来强化行为。 （PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。